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Post by suedehead on Sept 22, 2020 10:40:49 GMT 1
From one end of the 1960s we go to the other end for the song at number five. It comes from a band who had four top ten singles in the space of a year but it’s the one which topped the chart in 1969 for which they are best remembered.
The band that was to become Creedence Clearwater Revival had their musical careers rudely interrupted when they were called up for military service in the mid-1960s. They picked up again in 1967 and settled on their name at the beginning of the following year. They had their first UK hit single in the summer of ‘69 (maybe that would make a good song title) with Proud Mary and followed that up with the classic-to-be Bad Moon Rising.
Bad Moon Rising took three weeks to reach the top ten and then, three weeks later in mid-September, it climbed to number one, ending the three week run of the decidedly odd In The Year 2525 by Zager And Evans. It was still there the following week, allowing it to qualify for this list. Other songs in the chart at the time included Bob Dylan’s Lay Lady Lay, Johnny Cash’s A Boy Named Sue and the original release of David Bowie’s Space Oddity, inspired by the moon landing a couple months earlier.
The song that replaced Bad Moon Rising was part of one of the weirdest episodes in chart history. We know that there have been times when it was commonplace to have two or more different versions of the same song in the chart. It even happens occasionally in the 21st century. It is rather more unusual to have the same recording of the same song charting twice.
Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg’s Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus entered the chart in late July and, initially, climbed fairly slowly. As it grew in popularity, it also grew in notoriety and, due to it’s somewhat questionable content, was banned by radio stations in the UK and elsewhere. Naturally, that notoriety merely served to increase its popularity and, by the time of the chart that qualifies for this thread, it had reached number two behind Bad Moon Rising.
At this point, the record company panicked and announced that it was deleting the single and, therefore, would not be pressing any more copies. An aggrieved Gainsbourg immediately did a deal with another record company, allowing the new company to produce new copies, thereby allowing the song to continue to sell. The result was that the original release crashed to number sixteen the following week as the remaining copies were sold while the “new” release entered at number three. It may well be that the combined sales would have seen it top the chart that week. By the following week sales of the original release were still enough to keep it in the top forty while the “new” release climbed to the top to replace Bad Moon Rising after a three-week-run. Je T’Aime thus became the first number one to be banned by the BBC.
Bad Moon Rising remains a classic song and was used to great effect in John Landis’s 1981 film An American Werewolf In London.
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Post by suedehead on Sept 22, 2020 17:01:48 GMT 1
At number four it is a song from the 1970s. To be more accurate, it is a 1986 cover of a song from the 1970s. In the early months of 1977 two versions of Don’t Leave Me This Way - one by Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes, the other by Thelma Houston - were in the top forty. I wasn’t a fan of either of them. The song was co-written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff whose other compositions include When Will I See You Again, Me And Mrs Jones and Love Train.
Nine years later, then, my hopes were not high when I discovered that Communards were releasing a version of the song as their third single. Then I heard it and thought it was terrific. It was notable for the fact that Jimmy Somerville’s vocals were higher than those of the guest vocalist, Sarah Jane Morris. A few plays later (by which time it had entered the chart at number 28), I was convinced it would go to number one. Three weeks later it replaced Boris Gardiner’s I Want To Wake Up With You to prove me right. The best thing that can be said about I Want To Wake Up With You is that it was a distinct improvement on the song it replaced, Chris de Burgh’s Lady In Red.
Two weeks further on, it was still at number one, making it instantly one of my favourite birthday chart-toppers. A couple years before the first two versions of Don’t Leave Me This Way were in the chart, one of the people in the year above me at school was a lad called Nicky Eede (also sometimes known as Nick van Eede). By the time Communards were at number one, the same Nicky Eede was the lead member of Cutting Crew who were in the top five with (I Just) Died In Your Arms. Also in the chart that week were a re-recorded version of Psychedelic Furs’ wonderful Pretty In Pink, Eurythmics’ Thorn In My Side, (Forever) Live And Die by Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark and Paul Simon’s You Can Call Me Al, his first hit for six years taken from the Graceland album which had been released that month.
Don’t Leave Me This Way spent another fortnight at number one before its run was ended by Madonna’s True Blue.
Communards were formed by Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles (now a vicar and broadcaster) when they left Bronski beat. Somerville had been openly gay from the start of his musical career and Bronski Beat’s first hit, Smalltown Boy, was about his experience as a young gay man leaving his native Scotland for London. Bronski Beat also had a hit, along with Marc Almond, with a brilliant mash-up of Donna Summer’s I Feel Love and John Leyton’s Johnny Remember Me, the song whose four weeks at number one were interrupted for a week by Shirley Bassey (see number 25).
One of Communards’ final hits, in 1988, was For A Friend, a deeply moving song about a friend of Somerville and Coles who had died of Aids.
Jimmy Somerville ended Communards to pursue a solo career. The original version of I Feel Love was produced by the great Giorgio Moroder. In 1997 Moroder worked with Sparks on their Plagiarism album on which the Mael brothers reworked some of their biggest hits. Somerville joined them as a guest vocalist on Number One Song In Heaven and even turned up in 2008 when Sparks played Plagiarism in full as part of their 20-night Sparks Spectacular. It remains the only time I have ever seen Somerville perform live although I did once walk past him in Old Compton Street, Soho.
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Post by paulgilb on Sept 22, 2020 22:54:59 GMT 1
Tell Laura I Love Her was earlier (although Je T'Aime was the first banned hit to reach #1 after the inception of the official chart in 1969).
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Sept 23, 2020 10:46:13 GMT 1
Don Cornell's "Hold My Hand" had to be re-recorded for BBC purposes because of a reference to the kingdom of Heaven.
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Post by suedehead on Sept 23, 2020 18:17:39 GMT 1
The song at number three is, like so many in the top ten, one written by one of the all-time great songwriting partnerships. The partnership this time is that of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Any songwriters who could look back on a portfolio that includes Walk On By, Twenty-Four Hours From Tulsa, I Say A Little Prayer, There’s Always Something There To Remind Me, What’s New Pussycat and I’ll Never Fall In Love Again can congratulate themselves on a job well done. Bacharach And David can easily list another half-a-dozen songs just as good. And then another six.
Bacharach and David wrote Make It Easy On Yourself in 1962 and the song was recorded by Jerry Butler. It reached number twenty in the US but did precisely nothing here (if it was even released). Three years later, it was recorded by The Walker Brothers. The Jerry Butler version is good, but Scott Walker’s voice (as was so often the case) turns it into something special.
Make It Easy On Yourself, The Walker Brothers’ second hit, entered the chart in mid-August 1965 and became Scott, John and Gary’s first number one five weeks later. It ended the two-week run of The Rolling Stones’ (Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, the fourth in a run of five successive chart-toppers for Mick ‘n’ Keef and co. The chart that week was somewhat Sonny & Cher-heavy. Mr and Mrs Bono (as they then were) had both I Got You Babe (a former number one) and Baby Don’t Go in the chart while each of them had a solo hit in the top forty. As well as the actual Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan was in the top ten with Like A Rolling Stone. The top ten also contained two instrumentals - Horst Jankowski’s Walk In The Black Forest and Zorba’s Dance by Marcello Minerbi. Elsewhere in the chart we had Barry McGuire’s Eve Of Destruction, Help! by The Beatles and The Righteous Brothers’ superb version of Unchained Melody.
Make It Easy On Yourself spent just a week at the top before Ken Dodd crooned his way to number one with Tears, a song that would sell a million copies. The Walker Brothers had one more number one hit with The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine (Anymore), a song originally recorded by Frankie Valli and later by Cher. They split up for a time before coming back with a brilliant version of No Regrets, far better than the later Midge Ure version. After they split up again, Scott (Engel) Walker became something of a recluse before his death in March last year, but he has been cited by many singers and songwriters as a big influence. That influence can be heard in the work of people such as Jarvis Cocker, Julian Cope and Alex Turner, particularly his work with Last Shadow Puppets.
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Post by suedehead on Sept 23, 2020 20:40:42 GMT 1
So, that’s 58 down and just two to go. Will the top spot go to the one from the 1960s or the one from the 1980s?
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Post by suedehead on Sept 24, 2020 8:44:39 GMT 1
Both of the top two are credited to two songwriters but only one of the partnerships can be counted as having the same status as, for example, Bacharach and David. The song at number two, though, was actually written by just one person. As with most Beatles songs, Hey Jude is credited to Lennon and McCartney but this one was written solely by Paul McCartney. The song started life as Hey Jules and was McCartney’s attempt to comfort Julian Lennon after father John had left the marital home.
Hey Jude entered the chart at the beginning of September 1968 and climbed twenty places the following week to become The Beatles’ fifteenth number one single. It knocked The Bee Gees’ I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You off the summit. At the time, its seven minute running time made it the longest number one song in chart history. That record is now held by Oasis (big Beatles fans) with All Around The World.
Hey Jude remained at number one the following week, meaning it was there on my eighth birthday. Also in the top ten that week were Aretha Franklin’s version of Bacharach and David’s I Say A Little Prayer, Johnny Nash’s Hold Me Tight (the first single that was bought for me) and Canned Heat’s On The Road Again. Songs lower down the top forty included Leapy Lee’s Little Arrows (eight-year-old me loved it), Dream A Little Dream Of Me sung by Mama Cass (Anita Harris had an inferior version lower down the top forty) and The Kinks with Days, later covered by the wonderful Kirsty MacColl.
Hey Jude was the first release on The Beatles’ own Apple label. The second release was Those Were The Days by Welsh singer Mary Hopkin, produced by Paul McCartney. Just two weeks after Hey Jude (Apple 1) got to number one, Those Were The Days (Apple 2) replaced it. Slightly bizarrely, Those Were The Days is the first song I can actually remember being number one, at least insofar as I knew what “being number one” meant. Somehow the fact that Hey Jude was number one (although I was aware of the song) passed me by!
The Beatles had just two more number one singles before the tensions within the band became too much and they split for ever.
Hey Jude returned to the top forty in 1976 (reaching number twelve) and again in 2010 when The Beatles’ catalogue was finally made available to download. Paul McCartney performed it at the end of the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics with the general consensus being that it was not his finest hour. He was, no doubt, hoping to do a better job at Glastonbury in the summer but that will now have to wait until next year.
I wish I could have found a version of the whole song without the nonsense in the first minute of this one.
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Sept 24, 2020 9:04:16 GMT 1
I hate to say it but I’d rather listen to WAP, I really don’t know why I dislike this song so much. There is probably only about 1 other 60s song I hate more. But I know loads of people love it, I’m just weird.
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Post by suedehead on Sept 24, 2020 9:16:39 GMT 1
I hate to say it but I’d rather listen to WAP, I really don’t know why I dislike this song so much. There is probably only about 1 other 60s song I hate more. But I know loads of people love it, I’m just weird. Very weird
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Post by suedehead on Sept 24, 2020 9:39:33 GMT 1
After two months, then, we come to the end. What is the song judged by me to be the best of the 60 (now 61) songs to have been number one on my birthday? First, I have impressed myself by getting to this point on target! Second, on one “special” birthday, I can reveal that the number one number one comes from another “special” birthday, my twenty-first. Yes, it is from 1981 and it is very 1980s. If you want to make derisive comments about my choice, all I can say is that ridicule is nothing to be scared of.
One of the great things about watching the Top Of The Pops repeats in something like “real time” has been witnessing the rise and fall (and, sometime, rise again) of various big names of the past. Sometimes it has been a bit of a surprise (even though I witnessed it at the time) to be reminded of just how short some acts’ time at the very top had been. One such act centred around the man born Stuart Goddard. Adam and the Ants had their first big hit in November 1980; Adam Ant’s last top ten hit as a solo performer came just under three years later.
Packed into those three years were some fantastic songs such as Antmusic, Stand And Deliver and Kings Of The Wild Frontier, a modest hit in 1980 but a number two six months later. The songs were generally enhanced by some great videos at a time when video-making was still a fairly new art form. The song that is the subject of this final piece, Prince Charming, was a perfect example with pantomime dames, Adam Ant swinging on a chandelier and a wonderful performance from Diana Dors hamming it up.
In the spring of 1981, Stand And Deliver became Adam And The Ants’ first number one when it went straight to the top and stayed there for five weeks. It remains the only number one song with the lyrics “Da diddly kwa kwa”. Prince Charming took slightly more time to get there, entering at number two and climbing to the top the following week. It replaced another outstanding number one, Soft Cell’s debut hit Tainted Love / Where Did Our Love Go, the latter being another Holland-Dozier-Holland composition.
Prince Charming’s second week at the top coincided with the day I turned 21 and Tainted Love was still holding on at number two. The presence of Ottowan at number three prevented Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s Souvenir completing what would have been a fabulous top three. Outside the top ten, highlights included Godley & Creme’s haunting Under Your Thumb, Depeche Mode’s Just Can’t Get Enough which was on its way to being their first top ten hit and Passionate Friend by The Teardrop Explodes (led by Julian Cope - see number three).
One of the new entries in the top forty in the relevant week was the song that ended Prince Charming’s four-week run at the top. It’s My Party by Dave Stewart (not the Eurythmics one) and Barbara Gaskin completed one of the best sequences of three number ones in chart history.
After Adam dumped the Ants, he had three top ten hits on his own including a number one with Goody Two Shoes and another one named after a pantomime character, Puss In Boots. Then, just as suddenly as he had appeared, he more or less vanished from the charts. Goody Two Shoes came with a typically flamboyant video. In one of the all-time great Top Of The Pops performances, Adam Ant used two stages to act out the video live.
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Post by suedehead on Sept 24, 2020 9:39:58 GMT 1
So, that’s it! I’ve reached the end of this top 60. Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to the discussion and to those who have read it without passing comment. It’s been a great trip down memory lane for me and researching it has been great fun, uncovering some things I didn’t know along the way. Contributors have also come up with some facts that were new to me - one of the joys of internet forums. I hope others have enjoyed this piece of self-indulgence as much as I have.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Sept 24, 2020 10:33:09 GMT 1
"Hey Jude" was the first Apple release, but its catalogue number was a Parlophone one. It would have been Apple 1, as nobody had noticed that contractually The Beatles were bound to Parlophone rather than their new label, and after then Beatles Apple records were all outside the Apple series. But there was an Apple 1. A one-off birthday present recording that Ringo pressed up into a 45.
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Post by suedehead on Sept 24, 2020 10:35:47 GMT 1
Well, the first year on this morning's Popmaster was a piece of cake!
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Sept 24, 2020 10:41:05 GMT 1
Something I forgot to mention above: the reason why the Sinatra cut was Apple 1 was because the Beatles/EMI had been having problems in getting the colour right on the Apple label, and when they went to see the final samples, they only had the one record available to put a sample label on.
The "Goody Two Shoes" performance on TOTP may have been the best TOTP performance ever. It's for some reason forgotten these days. Ant relied on videos after "Antmusic" so never appeared in the studio when at no. 1 - probably because of the exertions of the Prince Charming tour. The G2S performance may have been so extravagant because the battle for no. 1 was so close with Madness. A shame both came out at the same time, they both deserved a longer run at the top.
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Post by Shireblogger on Sept 24, 2020 10:45:44 GMT 1
Na na na na-na na na, na-na na na, Hey Jude...
ad nauseum
There's a reason why this song is popular at sporting fixtures which encourage the over-consumption of alcohol.
Possibly McCartney's least inspired song while still a member of the Beatles.
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Post by greendemon on Sept 24, 2020 11:36:53 GMT 1
Shamefully I didn't know quite a few of these so I have really enjoyed following this and listening along as I've gone! Good top 2. My favourite would probably have been 'Don't Stand So Close To Me' but actually a surprisingly high number of these are pretty good! Thanks for a really interesting and informative thread, suedehead. And Happy Birthday
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Post by raliverpool on Sept 24, 2020 18:04:11 GMT 1
Na na na na-na na na, na-na na na, Hey Jude... ad nauseum There's a reason why this song is popular at sporting fixtures which encourage the over-consumption of alcohol. Possibly McCartney's least inspired song while still a member of the Beatles. With regards the Na na na, etc section Paul originally had that as a guide vocal for him (& for the benefit of teaching John, George & Ringo the new song) with the intention of coming up with proper lyrics later. However, it was John Lennon & Ringo Starr who persuaded him to keep the lengthy outro section like that. So you can blame them for that. .... Funnily enough they were the two rampant drinkers in the band whose problems with alcohol got the better of both of them in the mid 1970s.
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Post by raliverpool on Sept 24, 2020 18:17:50 GMT 1
The "Goody Two Shoes" performance on TOTP may have been the best TOTP performance ever. It's for some reason forgotten these days. Ant relied on videos after "Antmusic" so never appeared in the studio when at no. 1 - probably because of the exertions of the Prince Charming tour. The G2S performance may have been so extravagant because the battle for no. 1 was so close with Madness. A shame both came out at the same time, they both deserved a longer run at the top. Here is that TOTP performance:
Which I have to agree is the greatest ever TOTP performance (with Jeffrey Daniels solo backslide or "moonwalking" of Shalamar's A Night To Remember from the same year www.youtube.com/watch?v=END_WYdf8pw a close runner up .... which incidentally was watched by one Michael Jackson who was staying in East Sussex at the time at .... Paul McCartney's family house where they were recording together).
You may or may not also be aware of the clear link between Suedehead's Top two birthday's #1 ... that Adam Ant's mum was Paul McCartney's cleaner...
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Post by paulgilb on Sept 24, 2020 23:40:31 GMT 1
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Post by suedehead on Sept 25, 2020 12:10:24 GMT 1
Here is the top sixty in full
1 ~ Prince Charming - Adam And The Ants (1981) 2 ~ Hey Jude - The Beatles (1968) 3 ~ Make It Easy On Yourself - Walker Brothers (1965) 4 ~ Don't Leave Me This Way - The Communards (1986) 5 ~ Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival (1969) 6 ~ Apache - The Shadows (1960) 7 ~ Ebenezer Goode - The Shamen (1992) 8 ~ Band Of Gold - Freda Payne (1970) 9 ~ She Loves You - The Beatles (1963) 10 ~ Dancing In The Streets - David Bowie & Mick Jagger (1985)
11 ~ Eye Level - Simon Park Orchestra (1973) 12 ~ Changing - Sigma feat Paloma Faith (2014) 13 ~ He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother - The Hollies (1988) 14 ~ Promises - Calvin Harris & Sam Smith (2018) 15 ~ She's Not You - Elvis Presley (1962) 16 ~ Dancing Queen - Abba (1976) 17 ~ I'm Into Something Good - Herman's Hermits (1964) 18 ~ Don't Stand So Close To Me - Police (1980) 19 ~ I Don't Feel Like Dancing - Scissor Sisters (2006) 20 ~ Karma Chameleon - Culture Club (1983)
21 ~ Message In A Bottle - Police (1979) 22 ~ What Makes You Beautiful - One Direction (2011) 23 ~ What Do You Mean? - Justin Bieber (2015) 24 ~ The Last Waltz - Englebert Humperdinck (1967) 25 ~ Reach For The Stars / Climb Every Mountain - Shirley Bassey (1961) 26 ~ Hey Girl Don't Bother Me - The Tams (1971) 27 ~ Closer - The Chainsmokers feat Halsey (2016) 28 ~ Take Me Back To London - Ed Sheeran feat Stormzy (2019) 29 ~ Just Like A Pill - Pink (2002) 30 ~ Show Me Heaven - Maria KcKee (1990)
31 ~ Sex On Fire - Kings Of Leon (2008) 32 ~ Too Good At Goodbyes - Sam Smith (2017) 33 ~ Sailing - Rod Stewart (1975) 34 ~ Beautiful Girls - Sean Kingston (2007) 35 ~ Distant Drums - Jim Reeves (1966) 36 ~ Call On Me - Eric Prydz (2004) 37 ~ Start Without You - Alexandra Burke (2010) 38 ~ Eye Of The Tiger - Survivor (1982) 39 ~ Way Down - Elvis Presley (1977) 40 ~ Blue (Da Ba Dee) - Eiffel 65 (1999)
41 ~ Break Your Heart - Taio Cruz (2009) 42 ~ How Can I Be Sure - David Cassidy (1972) 43 ~ Hall Of Fame - The Script feat will.i.am (2012) 44 ~ (Everything I Do) I Do It For You - Bryan Adams (1991) 45 ~ Can't Get You Out Of My Head - Kylie Minogue (2001) 46 ~ Where Is The Love - Black Eyed Peas (2003) 47 ~ Kung Fu Fighting - Carl Douglas (1974) 48 ~ Talk Dirty - Jason Derulo feat 2 Chainz (2013) 49 ~ Candle In The Wind 1997 - Elton John (1997) 50 ~ I Just Called To Say I Loved You - Stevie Wonder (1984)
51 ~ I Want You Back - Melanie B feat Missy Elliott (1998) 52 ~ Don't Cha - Pussycat Dolls (2005) 53 ~ Ready Or Not - The Fugees (1996) 54 ~ Summer Nights - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John (1978) 55 ~ Against All Odds - Westlife & Mariah Carey (2000) 56 ~ Boom Shake The Room - DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince (1993) 57 ~ Fairground - Simply Red (1995) 58 ~ Never Gonna Give You Up - Rick Astley (1987) 59 ~ Saturday Night - Whigfield (1994) 60 ~ Ride On Time - Black Box (1989)
[61 ~ WAP - Cardi B feat Meghan Thee Stallion (2020)]
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